A majority of Italians would support using the country's gold reserves as collateral for cheaper government borrowing, a survey has found – though almost all of those surveyed were against selling the gold to finance government spending.

Italy could use its gold reserves to secure funding at a lower cost than the yields commanded for its existing sovereign debt, according to the World Gold Council (WGC).

The WGC says gold-backed bonds "could be instrumental in improving the confidence of